KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The scream of fighter jets, the rat-a-tat of the firing range, even the echoing boom of a controlled detonation perks few ears at the Kandahar Airfield where the volume on the soundtrack of military life is always set on high.
Weather this time of year in Afghanistan rarely adds to the score; the whir of a thousand air conditioners drowns out the sound of dripping sweat and sarcastic quips of "hot 'nuff for ya?"
But the silent glare of the burning sun was replaced this week by the staccato of raindrops and the slaps of wind as a three-day storm washed out roads, flooded tents and frustrated military operations.
The culprit was a storm over the Gulf of Oman, which Cpl. Glen Slauenwhite, a Canadian meteorological technician, described as an "absolute monster."
"This storm is an anomaly in that it hit us," said Slauenwhite, from Halifax.
"Much like how (hurricane) Juan hit Halifax, how the tornadoes in Edmonton hit in '87. On a climatological scale, these things don't happen - these areas aren't prone to getting hit."
The storm swirled up on Tuesday, unleashing wind and rain throughout Afghanistan over three days, including a three-hour crackling thunderstorm that at times was hard to discern from the roar of military aircraft.
At first it was the smell that gave away Mother Nature's coming fury: the harsh stench of dust muted by the moisture in the air.
Next came the brown clouds of dirt, swept along by hearty winds up the gravel roads of the airfield, taking the idea of military camouflage to a new level -- total invisibility.
The temperature plummeted and as the dust storm blew through the airfield, soldiers and civilians alike played weather tourist, taking pictures and narrating home videos of the wacky weather.
The glee turned to flee as dust rained down, coating everything in a gritty film soon to turn to muck by the rain.
Row upon row of tent lines housing Canadians at the airfield were flooded.
Though the prospect of wringing out clothes and carpets was daunting, it didn't stop a pair of civilian employees from having a water fight late Thursday afternoon as a trio of frogs jumped gamely by.
The usual rainfall this time of year for southern Afghanistan is zero. By late Thursday night, 40 millimetres had fallen.
In parts of Afghanistan, the impact of the storm was severe; Afghan National Police and coalition soldiers rescued 42 people Wednesday who were trapped on rocks in the province of Kapisa, in the eastern part of the country.
Further east, in Pakistan, the provincial relief commissioner Khubah Bakhsh estimated that some 200,000 houses were destroyed or damaged. More than 800,000 people have been affected by floods from heavy rains and overflowing rivers and dams, he said.
In Kandahar City on Thursday morning, before a further deluge of rain frustrated locals even more, children swam along muddy sidewalks, shouting with glee as irate shopkeepers vainly tried to sweep the waters away.
The storm cut off power and phone access for thousands of people, bogging down side streets and main arteries throughout the city.
Farmers especially were worried about the unusual weather. One grape farmer mocked a westerner who was enjoying the respite from the heat, saying the rain would certainly ruin what had looked to be a bumper crop this season.
Some military operations ground to a muddy halt in the rain, though Slauenwhite said in some circumstances storms can be good for fighting as there's no moonlight to illuminate night time operations.
"However, trumping it is trying to live through the mud and rain and the discomfort that brings along," he said.
"Even if it is 24 degrees right now it's a relative issue. If you've been here for five months, 24 feels cold."
The weather was expected to return to normal Friday. With Kandahar having already reached last summer's record high of 45 degrees Celsius two weeks ago, extreme heat is likely to return.
The region is entering the season known as the Wind of 120 Days, an arid blast of air that sweeps over from Iran, and unstopped by the vast desert of southern Afghanistan, rips across the country with gale-force strength.
Having reviewed the weather reports on Afghanistan for the last few years, Slauenwhite said the weather-related buzzword on everyone's lips in North American hasn't found it's way into the Afghan weather lingo quite yet.
"There hasn't been any real significant climate change in Afghanistan," he said.
"It's still hot and dry and dusty."
